Physics And Astronomy International Conference At Birla Science Centre, Hyderabad
The B M Birla Science Centre organized its 15th annual Physics and Astronomy international conference -2018 on Tuesday 16th January. Key participants were Dr. N D Hari Dass (TCIS-TIFR, Hyderabad), Prof. S N Hasan (Dean, MANUU, Hyderabad), Dr. Larisa Laperashvili (Leading researcher of Theoretical Physics of the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics and National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”, Moscow), Dr. Priya Hasan (MANUU, Hyderabad) and Dr. B G Sidharth (B.M. Birla Science Centre, Hyderabad).
Prof. S.N. Hasan explained how planets could form at certain special points in their orbits at which the various forces cancel themselves. These are the Lagrange points. All this was in the context of the Kepler Space Telescope having just discovered hundreds of planetary system like our own.
Dr. B.G. Sidharth spoke on a new paradigm and mystery that has emerged in the past two years. This is based on delicate observations carried out by Adam Reiss who shared the 2010 Nobel Prize for discovering an accelerating universe. These observations starting 2015 right up to end 2017 have thrown up a very big puzzle, that the universe is accelerating eight percent faster than what our theoretical simulations indicate. This has lead to much speculation: For example is there a new type of a neutrino, or is there a new set of particles called supersymmetrical particles and so on. Dr. Sidharth observed that the answers could be much simpler namely that there is not as much dark matter in the universe, if any as is currently supposed to be the case. Once this is recognised this eight percent extra acceleration is explored in a simple manner. He pointed out that in any case there is no observational evidence for dark matter as yet in spite of 70 years of work.
Dr. Priya Hasan touched on the tricky problem of star formation of galaxies.Prof. Larisa Laperashvili’s talk indicated that the so called multiple point principle enunciated by her group has got new confirmation as it leads to an explanation of dark energy as was first pointed out by Dr. Sidharth himself. She also touched upon the very important problem of going beyond the standard model of particle physics which has held ground for nearly 50 years.
Dr. N.D. Hari Dass examined a number of subtle issues concerning time in modern physics, and in particular in Quantum Theory. He touched upon different formalisms including the more recent page wooters description which he said appears to remove many difficulties.
Mr. Pranav Sharma, Curator, B.M. Birla Science Centre moderated this important event.The speakers stressed upon the importance of such conferences and the need to communicate ideas and collabo
